As far as I know, no one has ever asked my friend Dan the secret to becoming a great plumber. Same thing for Alan, who’s an electrician. People know that being an electrician or being a plumber means that you must master a craft. They don’t think that there’s a “secret” of any kind. For some reason, they think » Read More
Category: Better Writing
Better Writing: The Four Years When Hemingway Became Hemingway
100 years ago, this month, Ernest Hemingway showed up at the Toronto Star looking for freelance work. A friend introduced him to the editors, and Hemingway’s charm and enthusiasm did the rest. His timing was good. Toronto Star founder, Joe Atkinson, was building a world-class newspaper. He wanted scoops and aggressive » Read More
Take Care of Your Brain and Your Brain Will Take Care of You
Remember the scarecrow from “The Wizard of Oz?” He wanted more than anything to have a brain. You probably have a brain already. Lucky you. The only thing you need to be concerned about is getting the most from it. Your brain has billions of nerve fibers connected by trillions of synapses. It is amazing. But it will be » Read More
Feedback and Christmas Gifts
I remember the Christmas I got the radar set. It was what I wanted most. I had besieged Santa with prayers. Just to be safe, I besieged my parents with the same prayers. Now, I opened the box to find the radar set. This was not just any radar set. It had a decal that said it was “The official radar set of the Ground » Read More
Better Writing: 3 Ways to Improve Your Writing When You’re Not Writing
You can always get better. Whether you’re just starting out writing seriously or whether you’ve been writing for more than half a century, you can always get better. It’s easy. You write and get helpful feedback. You make changes and write some more. Everybody knows that. But, what else can you do? Here are three » Read More